Peter and the Starcatchers: Jane
by Jane Ruthie
Summary: Fanfiction about Peter and the Starcatchers. Jane, "shadow" being, who must undergo a serious task. But she soon finds herself alone and in a world that she doesn't belong. She is connected to Peter in more ways than one, but Jane's past keeps them apart.


**Okay, so I've had this fanfic account for several...months...? And I never use it. Well...here I go. **

**Okay, so this is a fanfiction about the four-book series Peter and the Starcatchers. This is kinda right after the third one. One day, I was wanting to write something but I didn't know what so I started writing my own Peter and the Starcatchers...and then it turned in to fifty pages a week later...this is the first part I wrote, but it's not the beginning of my story. Basically, there is this whole other world called the House that the Others rule. (Trust me, you should probably read the books before reading this) Anyways, every human being has a shadow who lives down in the House. This is a story about Peter's shadow who is named Jane. Since the Others are fed up with Peter after the whole rocket incident (Ps-Ombra's alive-barely) they send Jane to the mortal world to kill him. But, there are a few things about being a shadow that even Jane doesn't know. But here is kind of a little paragraph explaining what shadows are. You don't have to read it, but it might help. Thanks for reading guys! Let me know what you think and if I should post the rest.**

**-JR**

**Okay, so shadows...they are born and grow up with their human counterpart but obviously they live in the House. They are all given names, but they aren't allowed to tell other shadows their names. Because there's so many of them, they typically don't interact with one shadow more than a few times. Jane is sent to the mortal world to kill Peter, and the story starts off right when she sees him, walking around Rundoon. Shadows feel a special connection with their counterparts, and have a lot of the same characteristics. But what she doesn't know is that when a human dies, so does their shadow. So basically, Ombra's a jerk for not telling her and making her go kill Peter which would essentially be killing herself. Also, the Others can contact the shadows by taking over their minds. In the House, it basically just works like telepathy. But when a shadow is contacted in the mortal world, they kind of faint and black out for a while. This comes up a lot. Also, as shadows, they do not feel any emotion or attachments unless the Others feel them. Shaodws don't feel pain unless inflicted by the Others, and they don't feel temperature. They don't bleed and don't care about anything but what the Others want them to. In Jane's case-killing Peter.  
**

There was nothing I could have ever imagined that could have prepared me for that moment, when I at last saw the boy.

No feeling or thought had ever struck my body, my very soul like this. It was instant-I felt pain the second my eyes found him and it was so intense my vision blurred and my head spun. I staggered back a step and gasped, but the burning pain quickly faded to a gentle pulling sensation, like a strong impression to be near him. It was annoying, like an itch, so I wanted to follow it. As soon as my eyes cleared and I could see the crowded square again, I saw him. I instantly found him, walking away in the sea of color.

He was my twin. We could have been born in the same family; I could have known him all my life. Except the only connection I had with him was this tugging sensation. He had my curly red hair and he looked only a little bit taller than me. He was wearing cut-off shorts and a dirty white sailor's shirt. There were four other boys, all looking about his same age-our same age-walking with him away from me. My head down, but my eyes trained on him, I followed. The boys talked very little, moving through the square. My body wanted to fly, to be quicker and rid myself of all the other voices around me, but I had to keep well behind the boy.

Too slow. Too slow. Time is running out. I need to finish the job. Too slow.

The boys continued through the town until they reached the very edge, where a few adobes stood. Beyond them was the vast desert, growing darker every second. I slipped behind the nearest house and listened, my every nerve vibrating.

"...never find her. There's no other way. Aster isn't here yet." I knew it was the boy speaking because as soon as I heard his voice, the pulling grew stronger. Then the other boys all spoke at once, clearly protesting whatever the boy was suggesting. They were shushed and then one of them spoke again.

"I want to go with you!"

"No, James. You can't fly."

Fly.

The boy could fly, too. Was nothing different about us?

The one called James spoke again.

"What if they catch you? What if you get tired?" He whined.

"Tinker Belle will keep me awake." The boy said. Tinker Belle? Suddenly, there was another voice, but it wasn't human. It was light, chiming, and when it spoke, my head pulsed uncomfortably at the sound of it.

"We're wasting time, let's go." It was a girlish voice.

"What did she say?" Said one of the boys.

"I have to go. Please wait for Aster. Tell him where I've gone." The boy said. Then there was silence. The pulling was growing thin, still clearly there, just growing farther apart. Cautiously I peered around the corner. The boy was now a dark shape in the sky, flying. Soaring next to him was a strange light. The four boys were there, watching him go. I couldn't fly off after him with them right there. I wished for my shadowy form again, so I could simply melt into the ground and swirl over the ground towards the boy. I looked down, racking my brain for something to get rid of the boys. There was a rock, about the size of my fist, a few feet away. I picked it up, forming an idea. I threw it across the road, into the window of the wooden shop. It shattered, and the roaring voice of the shopkeeper erupted from inside. The boys looked over towards the shop, trying to figure out what was going on. The huge lumbering shopkeeper appeared in the doorway, yielding a club. His eyes found the boys and he came running towards them, assuming they had thrown the rock.

"Run!" The boy James said. They took off down the road, the shopkeeper in close pursuit. The road now free of prowling eyes, I shot off into the night, following the pulling, though I could not see the boy.

It felt wonderful to be flying again. The desert air whistled through my hair and over my clothes, though I could not feel any coolness in my half-human form. There were stars, millions of them, glowing in the sky. Had I not been racing time and on my way to dispose of this human, I might have actually enjoyed myself.

We flew for several long minutes, and I knew I was gaining on him because the pulling was growing stronger again. In the distance, there were the spires of a palace. Lord Ombra had informed me this was the palace of a young prince, who had been appointed after Zarboff was killed. The Others planned to recruit him, but we were still unsure of his nature. The pulling was leading me there, so I flew faster towards the boy and the palace. The walls were set into the high sand dunes, guards walking along every one. I lowered to the ground and crept up to the wall. I looked up to the sky, checking for guards on top of the wall, and flew straight up the tower, my body only inches from the cement. I perched silently on top of the spire and looked out across the courtyard. The tugging was now to my right, and below me. I spun, my eyes darting across the ground to try and find the boy. If he got inside the palace, there might be too many witnesses for me to take care of him. There he was, near the gate. He was inching along the wall towards the spire across from mine. Suddenly, he shot off into the air and up towards the tip of the spire. Instead of flying over the wall, he suddenly disappeared inside the tower. I guess he had found an open window. As quickly as I could, I flew down from the spire and across the enormous palace wall towards the window. It was high up, and very small. I sat on the sill, looking around. It was a dark corridor with broken and rusty suits of armor lining the walls. The tugging was pulling towards my right, so I landed in the corridor and crept into the palace, following the boy. The corridor ended on the right and went down in a spiraling staircase. If I stood absolutely still, I could hear the boy's faint footsteps on the stone. I hovered down the stairs, not wanting to make any noise. The pulling grew stronger as I reached the end of the staircase, but accompanying it was a piercing ache in my head...something different.

At the end of the stairs was another corridor, this one with large tapestries and a long purple carpet on the floor. The pulling was a burning now; I could feel him close to me. But I could not see him as I looked down the corridor from the stairs. Suddenly, the girlish voice was there, and so was the ache in my head, magnifying when she spoke.

"There's something following you." She said. I froze, backing up the stairs and pressing flat against the wall. There was no one with the boy when he went into the window. Who was she?

"What is it? A guard?" The boy whispered, barely audible.

Silence.

"No...I can't...it's like..." The girl said this, and then made a strange dark sound, like the sound you would accompany with fear.

"Ombra? He's here? But that's-" Said the boy, and I involuntarily shivered at the mention of Lord Ombra's name. His voice rose to almost a shout and the girl cut him off.

"Quiet! It's not him...but it's like that..." She said. Then there was more silence. I held my breath, so far up the stairs that I couldn't see the corridor anymore.

"Let's just get out of here. Molly's in the dungeon across the palace." The girl said. I inched down the stairs so a sliver of the corridor was visible. The boy appeared from behind a suit of armor and started down the corridor. When he looked over his shoulder, I pulled my head back into the stairway, hoping he did not see. Floating next to him was that strange light. It gave me a strange feeling. I knew it was the source of the girlish voice that ached my head, but I was still unsure of what it was.

The light (?) had spoken of someone named Molly. Lord Ombra had not mentioned a Molly. Perhaps this was the star girl, was he had put it. Of maybe the painful light was the star girl. This was so confusing, I almost stamped my foot, but I stopped myself when the girls' voice pierced the silence.

"Peter, look out!" Peter. That was his name. Just thinking it made the burning pull sear through my veins. Suddenly, there was a calamity at the end of the hallway. Two men had appeared and were shouting and grabbing Peter, but he was struggling. The voice was silent, and when I peered out from behind a suit of armor near the stairs, I couldn't see the light anymore, but the ache was still there. The men now had a hold on Peter, and were dragging him off down the hallway perpendicular to the one I was in. I followed, quietly as possible, and watched the men lead him deeper into the palace, but up several flights of stairs to a thick, locked, wooden door. He had stopped struggling, but I could hear muffled grunting from underneath one of the guard's hands on top of his mouth. The other guard unlocked the door with keys from his belt and held it open for the guard now holding Peter. They slammed the door, but didn't lock it back up, so I crept up, praying they wouldn't hear, and pulled it open. It creaked loudly and I immediately flew up and pressed myself into the rafters in case they came back out. Nothing happened for a few seconds, so I floated to the ground and peered around the door. The guards were unlocking an empty cell and shoving Peter in. I crouched into the nearest cell, empty and open and backed up into the shadows as the guards passed back out into the palace and locked the dungeon door from the outside. I waited, staring at Peter through the bars. We were alone at last, and I would kill him. It's a shame he would never find Molly, whoever she was. And he would never return to the four boys, who might already be dead or in prison from the ruthless shopkeeper. I was pushing myself away from the wall of the cell when Peter began to whisper.

"Molly? Molly...where are you?" I froze where I was, watching. Peter looked around the prison, running to the walls of his cell and pressing his face against them.

"Molly!" He said, louder now. Then the ugly girl voice spoke.

"Peter, she's here!" Peter ran to the opposite wall of his cell, and looked into the one next to his.

"Molly, wake up!" He crouched down and I craned my neck to see him. There was a low moaning, a girl, but this time human.

"Peter? Peter! How did you...what...?" The girl stood up and they hugged awkwardly through the bars. She had dirty blond hair and was wearing a filthy, plain white dress.

"How did you get off the island?" The girl asked. I knew about the island.

"Flew. All the way." Peter replied.

"Of course he did it with my help." Said the aching voice.

"And Tinker Belle! I'm so glad to see you again!" Said the girl. Tinker Belle...so that was the name of the annoying voice that was coming from the strange light.

"Tell her I hate her." Said Tinker Belle.

"What did she say?" Said the girl. This confused me. One of the four boys had asked this after Tinker Belle had spoken back in the desert. How could they not hear her speaking? Her voice was so annoying!

"She says she's glad you see you too." Peter told the girl. The girl didn't say anything about Tinker Belle's rude comment, so I assumed she couldn't hear her for some reason.

"Molly, we need to get out of here, your father's coming." Molly. Ah, so the girl span style="font-style:italic;"was/span Molly.

"My father? Oh no, he can't. The Prince will kill him! That's why he kidnapped me!" She said. I was already beginning to not like her. Such a damsel in distress.

"You're bait for him? Then we need to escape. Right now, in fact." Peter said defiantly.

"But how? Both our cells are locked." Molly said, tugging on the bars between them as if that proved her obvious point.

"I can go get the keys." Tinker Belle said.

"Can you lift them?"

"Lift what?" Molly interrupted, but Peter ignored her, listening to Tinker Belle.

"Yes, I think so."

"Alright. We'll be here. Be careful, Tink." The light zipped between the bars of Peter's cell and flew closer to the door, closer to my hiding place. I held my breath, waiting for her to leave. As she passed my cell, I saw her falter for a moment, and turn her head to peer into the darkness, right at me, but she continued to the door where she squeezed through the lock, almost getting stuck at her hips. I let out my air, and turned back to Peter and Molly. He was now explaining where Tinker Belle was going to Molly, who was listening intently. My mind was racing...how was I going to get Peter alone?

The feeling came and I knew what it was, it was just horrible. My vision blurred into darkness, and I fell to my hands and knees and then gave way to the shadows that swallowed me up.

span style="font-style:italic;"You must not kill the boy.

But my Lord, I thought-

Silence! Do as you're told. The Others need the boy for information.

Yes My Lord.

Bring him here, to the House.

Perhaps, if my Lord would tell me, I could get the information from him.

No. The Others have withheld what exact information they need. Just bring him.

Yes, Lord.

Now go.

Yes Lord./span

It sort of felt like coming up from underwater. My eyes snapped open and I slowly got up from the prison floor. So now I needed to bring Peter to the Others. What about the girl? There was no time; I had to get him out of here before the light came back. Somehow, she could tell I wasn't human. I didn't like being around her. I crept out of my prison and ran to Peter's cell. He instantly jumped up, a confused expression on his face. Molly stood as close to him as possible, separated by the bars.

"Who are you?"

"There's no time to explain. You have to escape." I walked up to the lock on his cell and pushed my hands close up to the lock. Luckily, I could still melt small parts of my form and my shadowy fingers flowed into the lock. I fiddled for a bit, pressing my body close against it so Peter or Molly could not see I really had no key.

"What? How did you find me?" He said as I broke the lock and retracted my hand. I thought quickly, hoping he would buy the story.

"Lord Aster notified me you and Molly were here. I came as soon as I could." I swung the door open. He stood a few feet away, hesitant. The pulling was so intense, I had to clench my fists to keep from reaching out and grabbing him.

"Aster? He's here?"

"My father sent you? Surely I would know who-"

"Please, I am a worker in the palace, but I have been working secretly with your father for a few years now. We have to leave. Now!" Peter still looked cautious, but followed me out of the cell.

"What about Molly?" He said, crossing over to her cell.

"I..." What could I say? Lord Ombra had only asked for Peter. Would he punish me if I brought the girl? I guess not...Aster's daughter might be useful. And Peter wouldn't leave without her. Ugh.

"Hold on, back up." I moved to her cell and thrust my hand into the lock. I crushed it, and then retracted my hand. Then I stuffed it down into the pocket at the bottom of my shirt to make it look like I was putting the key away. Molly emerged from her cell and clutched Peter's shoulder. I ran down to the end of the dungeon to the largest window.

"Hurry! Let's go!" I was about to jump out the window, but stopped myself. Perhaps it was not wise to fly in front of them. I turned.

"Peter, you can't fly the two of us!" Molly said, both of them appearing behind me. Peter stared out of the window. Suddenly, the lock to the dungeon door rattled behind us. We all gasped. How desperately I wanted to fly away with Peter and leave this stupid girl behind to die.

"I have a little Starstuff left. Hurry! Use only enough to get over the wall." Peter ripped his locket from his neck. I froze. I had been warned of Starstuff. Not to be close to it. Not to touch it. He opened it for Molly and poured some on her. I could feel an intense burning, not internal like my connection to Peter, but a more physical thing, like touching fire. I cringed away from it.

"Now you." He thrust the locket into my hands I tried forced my scream to remain in my throat. I held it in my hands and let some drip down my arms. I could feel my skin burning so deep, my black blood began seeping up through my skin. After a few seconds, I snapped the locket shut, extinguishing the glow, and shoved it back to Peter. He was so busy helping Molly up onto the window ledge, I don't think he noticed my tearing eyes. I could still fly though. Molly and Peter, holding hands, jumped from the window and began going north, towards the nearest wall. I flew after them, not needing aid from the Starstuff, but my hands still singed. Molly began to wobble just before we reached the wall, and Peter had to heave her over. I tried to pretend the same, but it was difficult, when I really could fly fine. We made it over the wall and landed-Molly thudded-onto the sand. There were shouts coming from the gate and shadows of men danced along the torch-lit sand. Guards were coming.

"Run!" I said, shoving them in the direction of the city.

"Wait!" Peter said, turning. "Tinker Belle!" He tensed his body to fly away, back to the dungeon tower, but I grabbed his arm.

"There's no time! She'll find us!" Hopefully I would be wrong.

He frowned at me, but Molly grabbed his hand and we raced off across the desert. Once again, flying would have been preferable, but the stupid girl was once again a problem. Men began running after us, and I could hear them shouting. Suddenly, there were five or six on horseback, gaining on us every second. I could easily stop them by spooking the horses, but I don't think that melting into a shadow would tide over too well with Peter and Molly. I didn't have a sword and neither did Peter. There was nothing else to do. I turned, but just then, the light came shooting at impossible speeds towards us.

"Peter!" The light was yelling in her ugly voice. She came up to us, flying just ahead of the horses.

"Close your eyes!" She screamed. Peter relayed the message and he and Molly close their eyes. Suddenly, there was a brilliant flash from behind. From the horse whinnies and screams, I could tell the little light had injured the guards somehow, but that flash of light was painful to me. Like the Starstuff, the flash burned my back, and it knocked me to the ground. I lay there, gasping and trying to regain my feet. Peter was screaming something, and Molly was over me, talking. I couldn't make sense of any of it. My back and hands were burning and my ears felt like someone had their hands clapped over them. All I could hear was my pulse pounding through my body. I felt myself being lifted up, or maybe just my head was spinning. Molly's voice screaming was the last thing I heard before I blacked out from the pain.


End file.
